Downie out, Lecavalier in for Flyers vs. Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Something seemed up earlier Saturday when Flyers winger Steve Downie stayed on the practice ice at Nationwide Arena doing skating drills with assistant coach Ian Laperriere long after other players had departed for the locker room.

It was almost like a test instead of a punishment, a matter that was cleared up later when it was announced Downie would miss 7-10 days with what’s being called an upper body injury. Downie had been hit hard with an elbow to the jaw in a recent game against Montreal, but played through three games since to no apparent ill effects.

Yet he is believed to have been checked out by Flyers medical officials after Tuesday’s home win against Washington. Downie missed four games with a concussion in early November, just after being acquired from Colorado. But Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said this injury has nothing to do with concussion symptoms.

“It’s something he’s been dealing with here for the last game or two,” Holmgren said.

Downie’s absence paved the way for a Vinny Lecavalier return that comes at least one week earlier than anticipated. Lecavalier had missed the previous nine games with a non-displaced fracture in his back.

“He wanted to play,” Holmgren said of Lecavalier. “A guy like Vinny has been around a long time. You have to trust his judgment that he feels good. He clearly wanted to play, so we’re doing everything in our power to get him into the lineup.”

It’s questionable whether that would have happened if Downie weren’t hurt. He was placed on injured reserve Saturday and will be eligible to return to action Dec. 28, when the Flyers begin a five-game road trip in Edmonton.

“I don’t expect it to be long,” Holmgren said. “He probably would have missed two (games) anyway. ... We’re hopeful he’ll be back right after the break. He’s a tough kid and to his credit he did try to play through it.”

Originally injured Nov. 30 and diagnosed with the fracture about a week later, Lecavalier skated Thursday and Friday and finally was cleared to participate in a full practice with his teammates here Saturday morning. Now with Downie out, Lecavalier feels it’s best to hop back in.

“I felt a lot better yesterday and today was good, too,” Lecavalier said before the game. “I would say four or five days ago, it was still (painful). These last three days have been really good.”

Lecavalier acknowledged his recovery has gone quicker than he expected. He replaced Downie on Sean Couturier’s third line at right wing, therefore able to stay away from taking faceoffs, which still stresses his iffy back.

“He feels good and ready to go,” Holmgren said of Lecavalier. “The injury is something from a couple of weeks ago. Once he felt good there wasn’t a danger of reinjuring that same area. So it’s just that he’s ready to go.”

Jake Voracek said after the morning skate that he was looking forward to playing in Columbus, his first game there since being traded to the Flyers in June of 2011.

“It’s a lot of memories,” Voracek said. “Three years there, I played 240 games or something like that. So it’s going to be exciting for me tonight. I’m not going to lie, when the schedule came out I was looking forward to the day when we were going to play in Columbus because it’s been too long.”

NOTES: Also removed from the starting lineup was defenseman Nick Grossmann, who had flu symptoms. He was replaced by veteran Hal Gill, who had been a healthy scratch the prior 20 games. ... Ray Emery started the game in goal over Steve Mason, who was a rookie along with Voracek in Columbus the year coach Ken Hitchcock took them to the playoffs in 2008-09. Mason hadn’t been back here since he was traded to the Flyers last spring, but coach Craig Berube said he liked the idea of starting Mason Thursday night at home against the Blue Jackets instead of playing under a little more pressure here at Nationwide Center. The crowd started up a chant for Mason early in the game. ... The Flyers went 4-3-2 while Lecavalier recuperated, and overall this season they are 5-6-2 without him in the lineup.